One hard stare at a cool custom bike might make you think you have it figured out until you look more closely, and discover otherwise. What you may have missed are the fine details or trick parts that will jump out the longer you stare. It was all in this bike's details that George Mirzoian, owner of Sick Customs, set out to do when he and his crew built this bobber dubbed "Sick For Life."
A cross between retro and old school looks, George had a picture in his mind of what the bike would look like. "I wanted a retro-style custom bobber that would be low and short, with good handling so I could take it on long trips at reasonable cruising speeds without getting beat down," George said. "So with that in mind, I started thinking, what if I build a bike that looks like a retro/old school bobber but at the same time it's not simply old school-it's just a sick bobber? As a classic custom car builder, I knew that my bike would have to have a lot of detail, and the longer you stare at it, the more things you will fi nd that you didn't see at first."
Working from the picture in George's mind, he and the Sick Customs crew got started building this bobber. "I wanted a bike that I could ride everywhere on and be comfortable and look cool doing it, so I went with a Softail. I knew it had to be low-but not too low-so a Hi-Lo Air Ride was installed; that way I could pick up the bike when I'm riding and lower it when I park. I knew my bobber had to have some cool wheels, so I put on some retro-style 50-spoke Fat Daddys, with a 21-inch in the front and a 16-inch in the rear with whitewall tires. I wanted a clean look for the rear wheel, so I went with an Exile rear brake and sprocket two-in-one combo."
With its hand-tooled seat,...
With its hand-tooled seat, leather never looked so good. Having this sultry pinup girl near your backside makes it even sweeter.
To add some old school style, George had cool pinstripes laid on the metal along with pinup girls. "I had Clint Case at BCC hand-roll a seat pan for me, and then he hand-tooled a pinup girl in full color. He also made a custom p-pad seat so I could take some fi ne ladies for a ride. I knew my bike had to have pinup girls, so I had Fonzy at Fonzy Air Shot airbrush a full-color pinup girl on each side of my gas tank. Then I had Bob Coslett from Bob's Pin Striping lay down some old-school pinstripes all over the bike. I installed a Harley-Davidson 80ci Evo motor with a RevTech five-speed kicker transmission and a 3-inch open belt drive primary. The bike has no turn signals, horn, or speedo-the wind lets me know how fast I'm going. This bobber is my daily rider, and the smooth ride makes me want to stay on the road forever. I named this bike Sick For Life because every time I take it out, people walk up to me and tell me it's a sick ride. I'd like to thank my brother and the crew of Sick Customs for helping and supporting me with this bike. It was two months of blood, sweat, and grease."